


One Half of My Heart

by Okenite



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-03-26 16:05:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13861236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okenite/pseuds/Okenite
Summary: When Tyler returns to Columbus during the hiatus, it seems like all the pieces might finally fall into place.





	1. Chapter One

It's been almost 3 years. By that time most people would have forgotten the sound of someone's voice or the exact shape of someone's nose. But you remember every single thing about Tyler. It's almost like he never left and you never had to miss him. You were best friends for a few years in highschool and briefly after. But then he moved out of his parents house and met all these new people. He met Josh and even though you had visited a few houseparties, you never really connected with Tyler like you did before.

And the band became more and more succesfull. You supported Tyler every step of the way. He knew you did, he knew because you were the reason why he opened up about his music. You were the reason why he was confident enough to share it with the world and Tyler never wasted a moment to remind you of how grateful he was. But the distance grew and the phonecalls slowly reduced from daily to weekly to monthly. And when they left to play in Europe for the first time, all you got was a picture of Tyler eating a macaron in front of the Eiffel tower. 

But that's how life goes, and you were far too busy with your own projects to stop and think about a friendship lost. Finishing artschool to be a photographer and travelling to India, Peru, Iceland and Japan. Having your heart melted by a gorgeous bartender, having it broken a year after. Renting your own apartment, struggling to make ends meet, working part time jobs and looking for a new roommate. All the while, pursuing your dreams.

Tyler had clearly fullfilled his. Before and after Blurryface broke all the records, he toured the whole world (twice) and only returned home in the summer of 2017 to take a long well-deserved break. You've read about the band's amazing achievements, smiled at every word, cried your eyes out when they won a Grammy and laughed yourself silly when they accepted it pantsless.

But now you're standing here, on the doorstep waiting to walk inside and you feel somewhat out of place. The friendship you and Tyler shared was based on common interests and common fears. The demons he writes about are the demons you watched him fight when he was younger and you're not sure if being here makes you part of the present or the past. So you fiddle at the ribbon of the small gift you brought and take a deep breath. 

"Hey Y/N!" You hear Brittany's voice behind you as she walks up to you and kisses you on the cheek. "Oh my god, it's been so long! How have you been?" She asks excited and you answer with a smile, shaking your head, "Urgh, too long. But I've been ...well, busy, you know." She nods, "Oh yeah, I know, believe me. Two kids to raise here." She points at herself, rolls her eyes and chuckles. 

The light from behind the window casts a weird shadow on her face and you have to stop yourself from squinting your eyes. You used to do it all the time, to twist the shapes into things that weren't actually there. Brittany's face for example could be twisted into a beautiful skull with roses for eyes. But you refrain from doing so, and now you will never know.

You were invited to this welcome-back-party by Chris, Tylers former roommate and bandmember, because quote "Tyler would be so happy to see his oldest friend there". You didn't really have the heart to tell Chris that you were far from Tylers oldest friend. Instead you politely accepted the invitation. But the moment you did, you already started regretting your decision. 

Brittany keeps rambling about her kids as you both walk inside. The air inside the house smells like beer and cake. There must be about 30 people in there and you barely recognise anyone. You wait in the doorway as you scan the room, looking for Tyler. But then Chris walks up to you, giving you a warm hug. "Hi, I'm glad you could make it." He says, courteously and then, "You can leave your coat in the closet underneath the stairs" and "please help yourself to some champagne".

You nod and smile, "Where's Tyler?" You ask. He looks around the room quickly but then shrugs and says, "I dunno, maybe he went outside on the terrace." He points at the kitchen and the wide open glass terrace doors. You clear your throat and stuff the small gift in your coatpocket. You never expected so many people at this party and you notice that nobody else is carrying a gift, so you feel sort of stupid for even bringing one. 

Cautiously you walk towards the kitchen. Someone made a huge cake with frosting letters that read "Welcome back to your hømetøwn, Tyler". You sniff at the wordplay and continue to make your way outside. You stop at the terrace door, watching your own breath form clouds in the cold summer air. And then you see Tyler. He's holding a glass of lemonade and talking to Dave. Your heart seems to skip a beat. You frown, not sure why you're this nervous, and your feet seem frozen to the ground.

The light is doing that thing again with the shadows. It's almost a sea of orange and black and you squint your eyes. Tylers face twists and turns until it finds its shape. Half awake and half asleep. A very familiar feeling warms your heart and your breath shakes as you suddenly realise you've never missed anyone as bad as you've missed Tyler.


	2. Chapter Two

Dave keeps making wild hand gestures while he talks, but Tyler doesn't seem very impressed. He just sips his lemonade slowly, rubs his cheek with the palm of his hand and then his eyes wander off in your direction. He looks straight at you without flinching and you gaze at eachother for a few seconds from a distance. But you're interrupted abruptly by someone bumping into you from behind.

"Oh, sorry." Michael mumbles as he passes you and makes his way through the crowded terrace to reach Tyler. You hear him scream, "Hey, bro!" as they shake hands and Tyler is no longer looking at you. Your thoughts are all over the place and then it hits you. He must not have recognised you. You've changed your hair so many times since you last saw him. He must not have noticed it was you. I mean, why would you even be here? You don't belong to his group of friends anymore. 

This sudden realisation makes you feel completely alone. It fills you with a feeling of desolation and you have a hard time holding back your tears as you swiftly run to the bathroom. You lock the door, breathing heavily, and take a few steps back. It's a large bathroom. The walls are painted in a turquoise color and there are little soaps by the sink. You pick them up one by one, inspecting their shape and smell. This house is so foreign, it doesn't remind you of Tyler at all.

You must have been in there for 20 minutes or more, when you suddenly hear a knock on the door. You keep quiet, determined not to answer. But they knock again. And again. It's driving you insane, so you quickly respond, "Occupied." 

"Y/N... it's me." You hear Tylers muffled voice from behind the bathroom door. You bite your lip and slowly walk towards the door to unlock it. You open the door and look at Tyler. He looks back at you but he doesn't say a word. He quickly peaks inside and then says, "Are you hiding in here?" 

You look down at your feet and shrug, ashamed about being this immature. Tyler must have long gotten over his fears during these past years, but you're still stuck with yours. You're such a loser. But then he leans in and asks, "Can I hide in there with you?" He doesn't smile, he's not joking. Your heart jumps in the hope that you're not alone afterall. So you take a few steps back and let him in. He locks the door behind him.

"Shouldn't you be out there...talking to people and eating cake?" You ask. Tyler leans back against the door and shrugs, "Probably. Yeah." You nod softly, trying to convey the fact that you understand. "You look good." Tyler says, out of the blue, "I like what you've done with your hair." You smile nervously, while tucking your hair back. Tyler walks up to you and stops right in front you.

You look up at him and you feel like you should say something to him. "You look...", you start but you don't really know how to finish. His hair is the same as it always was, brown and fluffy. He's wearing a black hoodie and black skinny jeans, nothing special. And his eyes look... "Tired?" Tyler hums, looking for words to finish your sentence.

You bite your lips, "You've lost a lot of weight." You say, not exactly sure how to feel about it. He nods, "Yeah. It's what happens if you stop eating Taco Bell every night." He jokes. You chuckle, "Oh well, that's a good thing I suppose." Tyler smiles and raises his eyebrows, "Yeah, I guess." He looks away and his smile fades. "All these people. They want to hear stories about being on the road, visiting places all of over the world..." He looks at you and you can see the emptiness in his eyes. "But all I wanna do is sleep."


	3. Chapter Three

You reach out to Tylers hand, but all of a sudden it feels like you're crossing some kind of line so you hold back and let your arm dangle at your side. Tyler frowns and shakes his head. Then he grabs your hand and softly squeezes it. He smiles and says, "I can't even remember the last time I held your hand like this. It feels like a lifetime ago." 

You're more nervous than you should be. You look at Tyler, who seems calm. His eyelids slightly closed and his breath steady. You try to take in every detail, cherish every second, because somewhere deep down you have this feeling you might never be this close to him again. He's public property now, you came to realize that a long time ago. But right now, at this very moment, he's just that boy you shared your darkest moments with. 

"I don't want you to think..." Tyler sighs and then takes a deep breath, "I don't want you to think that I forgot about you, you know." He looks at you with watery eyes. "I need you to remind me." He bites his lip. You frown, "Remind you of what?" You lean in a little bit closer. He chuckles softly, shaking his head. "Nothing... nevermind." He smiles and rubs his eyes, "C'mon, let's go eat some of that cake." 

Seeing a knife in Tylers hand makes a shiver run down your spine. It brings back memories you much rather want to forget. You shake it off and sip from the champagne you're holding. You look at all the faces surrounding the large table. "Welcome home, buddy!" Chris shouts as Tyler cuts the cake with a big smile on his face. "Thanks, you guys, this is really..." He mutters. You tilt your head and softly squint your eyes again. There he is. Halfway gone. The Tyler who is torn between two faces.

You leave the party at a respectable hour, not too soon and not too late. You've done your duty and although you might have reconnected for only a small second, it was worth it. Now it's time to return to your life and leave it as it is. When you wake up the next morning it seems like nothing has changed and you're glad about it. You drink your coffee fast, already running late as usual. You put on your black boots and a sweater, quickly wrap your hair up into a messy bun and walk out.

You almost trip and fall over. Frustrated you kick at the small package that's laying on your doormat. "Fuck!" You say, louder than you should have. You look around the hallway of your apartment building, but no one is there. You breathe in through your nose and look at the package. Someone must have dropped it. You aren't expecting any packages and certainly not any weird looking ones. It's wrapped in brown paper and rope. You kneel down and pick it up. There's no address or anything written on it. 

You sigh, holding your keys in one hand and holding the mystery package in the other. But you decide that you are already late and being curious isn't a good enough reason to be even more late. You place the package in your purse and lock the door to your apartment before you leave.

"Well..." Remco says, pointing at his watch. You run into the back of the store and quickly give him the finger as the door swings closed behind you. "You're late again." Remco walks in behind you. "Y/N" He says stern, as if he can somehow order you around. "Yes, Remco. I know. I just...I'm just not really an early bird." You answer, while you rummage through your purse to find your personnel ID card.

But the brown paper package is distracting and Remco can see it as well. "What's that?" He asks curiously and points at your purse. You look up at him and give him a fake smile, "That, my dear colleague, is none of your business." But Remco doesn't seem very impressed by your response. His blue boyish eyes light up and he mumbles, reaching at the ripped corner of the brown paper, "I think it's a VHS."


	4. Chapter Four

"I know what it is." You say, pulling your handbag closer. Remco looks at you with curious eyes. "Right." He mumbles, biting his lip. "But have you played it?" He asks. You realise he wants to see what's on the video, just as much as you do. He smiles, "I think there's some old stuff in the back, I'm gonna go check."

Remco plugs in the chords of an old VCR and tries to connect it to the small tv screen behind the front desk. You keep watching the door, nervously, hoping no customers will walk in. Working at this store, selling cheap phones, laptops and tv's, isn't exactly your favorite job, but you need the cash to save for your next trip. 

You've had many ideas of where you want to go, but Iceland definitely sticks out. You zone out, dreaming of volcanic landscapes, but then there's a loud zooming sound and you're thrown back into reality. "Allright..." Remco rubs his hands together and then turns to you. He nods and you hand him the videotape.

At first it's nothing but white noise, for almost two minutes. Two minutes last a century when you're waiting for something. But then an image appears. You try not to squint but you can't help it. The video is filmed with a very crappy handcam, but you can clearly make out a bunch of trees. 

It's a forest and the person holding the camera seems to be walking in a fast pace. There's no sound at first, but now you can hear breathing. Intense and nervous breathing. The image doesn't change, but the camera moves faster, as if the person holding it is running now. It just moves faster and faster and then it stops. It just cuts off, without any warning. 

You keep staring at the screen, hoping another image will appear, but it's just white noise again. Remco looks at you, just as puzzled as you are. "What the hell was that?" He asks. You shrug, "How am I supposed to know? I mean... it's a forest." Remco nods, "Yeah, do you recognize it? Does it mean anything to you?" 

For some reason all these questions make you feel a little bit aggravated, "No! Why would it mean anything to me? It's just someone running in a forest." You sigh and turn away, "That video probably wasn't even meant for me." But Remco doesn't seem to listen as he keeps pushing the buttons on the VCR. He rewinds, stops right in the middle of the video and plays it again, but at half speed this time.

You shake your head, "What are you doing? This is never...STOP!" You scream, pointing at the screen. Remco pauzes and looks at you. "Wait. Play it back just a bit." You instruct and then the image pauzes and you can see it in the corner of the frame. Remco frowns and hums, "What is that?" You bite your lips and stare at a white skimask, right there on the ground, between the trees. "Tyler..." You sigh.

Tyler raises his eyebrows and looks confused, as you keep talking. "...and then I saw the mask." You look directly at him, expecting some kind of reaction. But there isn't one. "Your white skimask, Tyler. I bought that mask for you, I would recognise it anywhere." Tyler doesn't really answer, he just keeps frowning and biting the inside of his cheek. 

"Tyler?" You say, questioning. "Why did you send me this video?" But then he shakes his head, furiously. He looks down at his feet and mumbles, "I didn't." He lifts his head and looks at you, "But I also found a video." You tilt your head, "What do you mean? You got the same video?" Tyler strokes his hand through his hair and breathes out through his nose, "No. Not the same video. A different video." He looks straight at you and says, "It was a video of you."


End file.
